The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) joined forces with Putney Pre-College, an initiative of Putney Student Travel, to host the inaugural youth summer program on climate and public health in July 2021.
As part of the Center’s 25th anniversary, the Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Youth Summits trained students to be leaders in their communities through workshops, field-based activities, and meetings with scientists, health and policy experts, academics, energy innovators, and more.
Confronting Climate Realities with Concrete Action
Sunday, July 18 – Saturday, July 24
Like-minded high school students joined engaging educators and inspiring mentors in July 2021 for a climate change program with Putney Pre-College and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The students chose an Action Focus and dove into climate issues related to their interests, strengths, and passions. The students gained perspective from world leaders and politicians, met with inspiring advocates, scientists, renewable energy innovators, and entrepreneurs at the forefront of addressing the climate crisis. The students engaged with themes such as health, energy, water, transportation, and agriculture, and developed a capstone project focused on transforming their ideas into action.
Tackling Public Health Challenges to Address Inequities and Climate Realities
Sunday, July 25 – Saturday, July 31
High school students dove into issues of public health alongside peers, educators, and leading professionals from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The students chose an Action Focus based on their interests and explored how public health is intertwined with racial and social justice, economics, and climate change. They gained perspective from scientists, world leaders, and politicians about the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges and opportunities for navigating global public health issues. The students engaged with themes such as climate, pandemics, public policy, and air and water quality and developed a capstone project to transform their ideas into action.
This program was developed thanks to the support of Gina McCarthy, the former National Climate Adviser to the Biden/Harris Administration and former Director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE.
Check it out: Two of our speakers—Nadia Nazar, Co-founder of Zero Hour and Skye Flanigan, Director of Programs at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE—were featured on CBS Baltimore. Watch now
Guest Speakers in Summer 2021
S. Bryn Austin, ScD
Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthProfessor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Research Faculty in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
Gaurab Basu MD, MPH
Primary Care Physician and Co-Director of the Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy at Cambridge Health AllianceInstructor, Harvard Medical School
Aaron Bernstein MD, MPH
Interim Director, Harvard Chan C-CHANGEPediatric Hospitalist, Boston Children’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Marcia Castro MA, PhD
Andelot Professor of DemographyChair, Department of Global Health and Population Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Francesca Dominici, PhD
Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population and Data Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthCo-Director of the Data Science Initiative, Harvard University
Caleb Dresser, MD, MPH
Mark Elliot
Storm Specialist and On-Camera Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Jerome Foster II
Executive Director & Founder, One Million of Us
Youth Activist, President Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Howard Frumkin MD, DrPH, MPH
Former Director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDCProfessor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington
Christopher Golden, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Planetary Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Howard Koh MD, MPH
Former Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesProfessor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Kennedy School
Natalia Linos MSc, ScD
Executive Director, FXB Center for Health & Human Rights, Harvard University
Katherine E. MacDonald
Director Technology to Market, The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, (NYSERDA)
John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA
Regan J. Plekenpol, MPH
Renee N. Salas MD, MPH, MS
Yerby Fellow, Harvard Chan C-CHANGEAffiliated Faculty, Harvard Global Health Institute
Emergency Medical Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Roger Shapiro, MD, MPH
Associate Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical SchoolAssociate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health
Governor Peter Shumlin
81st Governor of VermontMenschel Senior Leadership Fellow, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Co-Director, Putney Student Travel
Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides
Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
K. “Vish” Viswanath, PhD
Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication in the Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
